O Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas decorations are pretty simple this year. We have three very diverse trees and our stockings hanging from the mantle and that's it. Actually, the stockings are still on the ground waiting to be hung from the mantle...

Last spring, I found a nice Christmas tree at a garage sale around the corner from us for $10. Score! We had thought about getting an artificial tree for the last few years, but they are a pretty expensive storage hog.

We didn't avoid the storage hog problem, but at least we didn't pay much for it!

I decided to make some ornaments for our tree this year. I crocheted some snowflakes and those two red hearts and I made the three white yarn balls. I intended to make more yarn balls but you go through the adhesive for them much quicker than expected.

My favorite part of putting up the Christmas tree is watching Jeran put the lights on each year. :) Actually, I really enjoy hanging the ornaments, but I am grateful every year when Jeran puts the lights on the tree.

This is a Christmas tree that I made in Achievement Days when I was 10 or something. It's made of glass baby food jars hot-glued together and then drill 2-3 holes in each lid (enough total for your strand of lights). Put a sprig of tinsel in each and stick a bulb from your Christmas lights into each hole. I have to reglue some of it each year when I take it out of the box, but I like hot glue so I'm never too sad. It's very cheery!

And Jeran's awesome fiber optic Christmas tree. It changes colors and rotates. Sweet!

Merry Christmas!

Weekday Camping

Last night we went camping overnight. It was really wonderful. We went to Jordan Lake's Poplar Point camping area. It was right on the lake with trees all around and a sandy beach right by our campsite. There was only one other tent campsite in use in the campground (according to the ranger) and we never even saw them, so it was very quiet and peaceful.

We set up our tent and started a fire and then made our traditional camping dinner: a creamy Bear Creek Soup cooked over our awesome Brunton Raptor camp stove, and a loaf of french bread. Actually this time we got an artisan rosemary peasant loaf (or something...) because it was on sale, but usually it's a loaf of french bread and we pull off chunks to dip in the soup. Mmmmm.  Then I carved a stick and ate a lot of marshmallows and Jeran ate some more jerky. Hard to say which is better.

Then we sat in silence (mostly) and watched the fire and the stars. It was just cool enough that a fire felt really nice but warm enough not to have one side of you freezing at any time. We saw some shooting stars and waited for our wood to run out and the fire to burn down and just had a wonderfully peaceful evening.

As always, we were wakened slightly earlier than desired by the substitute Tobys, which were crows today (the squirrels must have been too busy). We cleaned up some, made hot chocolate, ate powdered donuts, and sat by the lake watching the fish jump, an egret wading, and the sun rising. All in all, a practically perfect campout. We decided we should have been doing this more often: work a later day from 11 AM until 8-9 PM so we could go camping on a weekday.

One Year

September 9, 2011 has just passed. It has been one year. And how fast that year has gone!

On September 9, 2010 I received a radioactive iodine treatment that killed any remnants of thyroid tissue that were left in me after my complete thyroidectomy. This was the last step in treating the thyroid cancer that was discovered a few months previously. Now, one year later, I have officially been deemed cancer free!  Hooray!

I don't really have any other comments on this besides that I feel great, my thyroid hormone replacement medication is adjusted nicely, and I'm excited to have a "normal" year! Thank you doctors, family and friends! Go me!

July and August Books

Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. ~James Russell Lowell

I read a lot in July, perhaps too much:

Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the first two pages so I was excited to continue reading it. Before long, though, you get to interspersed chapters that are just Mussolini or some Italian general shouting and ranting and talking tactics and bureaucracy. All in all, it got more interesting past the middle of the book and had very interesting history about the Greek island of Cephallonia during World War II. I ended up liking it quite well. 4 stars

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

This is a YA distopian book about a world were there are few people left because someone was trying to make people live forever (or something) and all they ended up doing was making people turn into zombies that just want to attack the living. There is a small population left a few generations later trying desperately to stay alive and learn if there is anyone/thing else out there. It was pretty good - good enough to read the sequel but not awesome. 3 stars

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

I had to listen to this again with the last movie coming out. I was a little foggy on the whole how and why there at the end, but this time I understood much better. It's a great book. Obviously 5 stars

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

This book is about two sisters surviving in their home after some huge disaster and the government and everything shuts down. There is no gas, no power, etc. and they have to become self-reliant. I didn't love it, but it made me think. 3.5 stars

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Innnteresting. A Cro-Magnon girl is raised by a Neanderthal tribe, in which she must learn to contain her differences or be outcast. 4 stars.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

The sequel/companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, this book just explores some different people and how they have survived, but it ties back in to the past and the other book. 3 stars

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

At last all the pieces of this zombie-pocalypse series come together. Yet another character (still related to all the others in the series) and what life is like for them. 3 stars

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

This was an interesting book that talked about decision making and how our mind analyzes information and how unconscious thoughts are revealed. It discussed many studies that really made me think. 4 stars

The Valley of the Horses by Jean M. Auel

The girl, Ayla, is now a young woman and goes to seek out her own kind of people. If I'd know what this book was like, I wouldn't have read it. It's the sequel to The Clan of the Bear Cave, but this book made me decide not to read any more of the series. Too much sex - I think that is ultimately what this book is about. I wouldn't recommend it. 2 stars

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

This book was great. It is about an 11-year-old aspiring chemist who tries to solve a murder that her father is suspected of. It's just a fun read and I really enjoyed it. 4.5 stars

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I could not finish this book. It also had way too much graphic sex and was pretty gross. Again, I don't recommend this.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

From his apparently famous Discworld series. It is about a talking cat, Maurice who leads a boy and a group of talking rats to scam money from poor unsuspecting villagers. It was entertaining, but I'm not left with a big desire to go read any more of his books. 3.5 stars

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

I love the BBC movie of this and I love the musical but I had never read the book. It is a good short historical fiction piece about that most beloved of topics, the French Revolution. I liked the book, but I think I like the movie better still. 4 stars

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster

A little short story about a futuristic world where people don't have to leave their rooms for anything. Then the main woman's son desires to get out and asks what she would do if the machine (that is running the food, entertainment, life support, etc.) stopped? There's not much to this book but it makes you think. 3.5 stars

In August:

The Stolen Child By Keith Donohue

Based on a Yeats poem, this book is about a group of fairy changeling children who steal children from their homes and substitute themselves in their place. 3 stars

The Road by Cormac McArthur

Another futuristic or distopian book about a father and son traveling through the land after some firey disaster left most dead. They must survive the weather, starvation, but mostly road bandits. The style is different but fits the story very well. 4.5 stars

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Quite a bit different from the movie, this is a silly and pointless book. I liked it anyways. 4 stars

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

"I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things." ~George Robert Gissing

I got this book from the library and I think someone spilled vanilla on it. It smelled awesome when you opened the book. I may do that to all my books. This is a fable, meaning it has a moral, I detected many possible morals, so you can pick whichever one you want. Jeran has always been shocked that I wasn't familiar with Jonathan Livingston Seagull, so I figured I'd better figure out what it was about. It was just okay as a book, but I suppose it is the message rather than the delivery that are important here. 4 stars

Columbine by Dave Cullen

Wow. I was 14 when this event occurred and now I don't remember the details too clearly. This book is absorbing, taking you into the lives of the killers, the victims, the parents, the investigators, and the community. While there is a fair amount of bad language (quoted from the killers journals and videos) and some pretty grim crime scene descriptions, this book really looked at all aspects of the situation in as much of an unbiased way as possible. It examines what, how, and most importantly, why. 4 stars

It feels kind of wrong to give a book like The Princess Diaries the same number of stars as a book that was really serious and contemplative, but it is what it is. You can like things that are completely different the same amount without comparing them. Also, it's not always just the book itself that influences your opinion of it - how you're feeling, time when you read it, etc. play some role too.

Just life

Hello again. I have thought about blogging a few times in the last month but every time I sat down to start writing, I thought Nah, I'm not going to do that. So here's an all at once recap of what we've been up to.

Jeran has been working hard at science and on reassembling his motorcycle. It's been amazing to watch (and very occasionally participate) the bike come together. It's going to look so good. It might even run! This is not a very recent picture, but we'll save that for later.

I've been working a lot the last few weeks, which is great because I can stay busy and make money at the same time (amazing how "work" does that). Unfortunately I've been working on a difficult project which has meant waking up around 5:30 AM many mornings thinking about it. Oh well. The days are so much longer and more productive this way!

I made one of those neck coolers (aka cool ties, cooling scarves) that you put absorbent polymer crystals into and they soak up water and keep you cool via evaporative cooling. I overfilled it a bit so I'll have to try again on another. Good thing they are super easy and cheap. It's too bad I didn't make them months ago because we sure could have used them all summer long, especially on our waterfalls trip and Jeran working on his motorcycle. We've been scorching hot here - when 95 degrees sounds like a reasonably nice temperature you know it's been hot.

Our garden is not doing too great. We have had trouble with deer eating our tomato and pepper plants. We did get three little cayenne peppers and a few little green tomatoes have been on the plants all summer without changing at all. Regardless of the heat, our carrots seem to be doing quite well. I didn't think they would because I think they like sandy soil better than clay, but I pulled one up yesterday and it's the cutest little carrot ever!

A while ago we went on a quest to picnic at "Research Triangle Park". We knew there was a good chance that there was no real "park" park, but we picked up a pizza and drove around looking for parkish places in Research Triangle Park. We found the actual RTP headquarters and it seemed as parklike as anything we were bound to find so we ate there. It was deserted and they have a large grassy field and bushes and stuff. The sky looked amazing. We picnicked on pizza and took a little snooze on our blanket. It was a very nice evening. I'm still convinced there must be a park SOMEwhere there, but maybe not...

And now for three things that are super amazing/cool/brilliant:

1. Opposable thumbs. Think about it. Look at your hand - it's that bottom thumb joint down by your wrist that is opposable. Now try doing things without rotating that joint. VERY difficult. Yesiree, opposition is amazing. We can grab stuff, write, play the piano, create a cup with our hand, etc. I do love my opposable thumbs.

2. That we can turn electrical charges into mechanical motion. After watching the clock spin around and around the other day, I researched this and learned a lot! At first I was surprised when I Googled this and Wikipedia's "Engine" article was a top result but now it makes better sense (see particularly the electric motor section). And now my engineer dad and brother are probably rolling their eyes.

3. Wikipedia. Lame, I know but it is pretty amazing and I've read some really interesting articles, like the Waste Management, Engine, Laudanum, HeLa, Petabyte, Eden Project, etc.

Waterfalls Road Trip

We just got back from a little three day roadtrip in Western North Carolina. We also ventured into Northern Georgia, drove through South Carolina, and stuck our toes over the border into eastern Tennessee. Although it was forecasted to be stormy the entire time we only got any significant rain a few times while we were driving - I was worried about the camping conditions but it turned out just fine!

First we saw Catawba Falls, which was one of Jeran's favorites.

Then we camped for the night. It was an all right little campground that focused on tube rentals and shuttles for tubing the Green River. They had a pond near the campsites that had tons of - I identified it when I got home - bullfrogs! They are so noisy (here's what they sound like). Imagine probably 20 of those off and on every 10 minutes all night. Plus about a billion cicadas, also squawking all night. And campers arriving at all hours of night for Coon Dog Days, which has nothing to do with hotdogs or corndogs as was my first naive guess, and everything to do with hound dogs. That night, I did not sleep very well but at least that was not due to rain! Jeran slept much better, which is good because he did all of the driving.

First off that morning we went to Sliding Rock, where we had thought about swimming (and sliding) but it was too early in the day and was still cold and empty. You can slide down the falls into the pool at the base - they even have a lifeguard.

Looking Glass Falls is very pretty. There were tons of berries all along the short path (blackberries or raspberries) but they weren't ripe and I don't know if I would have eaten any if they were.

We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway through Pisgah National Forest.

We hiked to a few little falls in an area called Graveyard Ridge. This is Lower Falls:

And after a little mile-long detour (because we were working with the trail map only in our memories), we made it to Upper Falls, which I did not take any pictures of because there were lots of people there, including a breastfeeder sitting almost under the falls and it seemed weird to pull out the camera. All in all, we hiked about 4.5 miles for those two falls and got sore feet and soon-to-be sore legs.

Next we saw some very pretty areas. Shoal Creek Falls and French Broad Falls sit right below a church-owned building in a little ravine. These two falls are adjacent to each other in a little semicircle.

Looking the other direction from these two falls.

A trail continues down the river with several little falls and then Bird Rock Falls aka Cathedral Falls. There was a nice area where we waded and looked at the tall rock walls of the little canyon. This was probably my favorite area and the pictures do not do it justice.

We saw Toxaway Falls, which is hard to see because you are at the top of it where it runs under the road and then over the falls.

Then we hiked down to Whitewater Falls, which was pretty spectacular. It is supposedly the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, and was very big and beautiful.

We then saw Bridal Veil Falls, which was a bit lame even though it had been raining recently. Also, those people were never going to leave. But it was fun to it to see the variety of waterfalls. This one you can actually drive behind, and walk under.

Next we saw Dry Falls, which was awesome. The sheer volume of water pouring over the falls was amazing, even more so because you can walk around behind the falls on a paved path and get sprayed by the mist (which feels very nice on a hot, humid day) and see the water exactly as it shoots over the edges.

We drove on more of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was very spectacular and reminded me a little of road trips with my family growing up were I was certain we were about to plummet to our deaths over the side of the cliff. The roads are actually not tooooo near the edge, but when I look to either side of me and can see the ground falling away drastically into forest, I do get a little nervous. At some point, Jeran and I discussed how long it would be before anyone missed us and sent out a search party if we went over the edge somewhere when no one was around. I think Jeran said a month... Seriously?!

We saw Glen Falls, which was pretty with lots of little cascades.

After this we ventured into northern Georgia to stay the night and then go to Tallulah Gorge, which is a spectacular, deep gorge with a river cutting through it. We trekked down the one billion stairs to the Hurricane Falls viewing area.

The Tallulah Gorge dam was built in 1913 and looks like it, but it is pretty amazing what they could do, even back then.

Some views of the Gorge:

Apparently at least two persons have crossed this on tightropes. Crazy.

Jeran crossing the suspension bridge over the gorge:

Leaving Georgia, we headed home, stopping en route to see the view from Clingman's Dome, the tallest mountain in the Smokies and in Tennessee. Getting to the top of this mountian entails a long curvy drive along another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway through Smoky Mountain National Forest behind a very slow truck (confirmed on the way back down). Clingman's Dome is topped by a tall tower for an improved view over the trees. You have to hike a grueling, climbing half mile to the tower and it was very hot and steep. Unfortunately, it was not a very clear day so we couldn't see too far, but it was a nice view anyways.

On top of Old Smoky!

In all, we saw at least 12 waterfalls and many spectacular vistas and I have never gotten more sweaty from hiking. It was a gorgeous trip and it was nice to get away for a few days! Now I feel we've sampled a good amount of North Carolina - it would be a shame to live here for a time and miss out on these treasures!

"Additionally, the doctor believed that the pleasure of homecoming was more than recompense for the pains of setting out, and that therefore it was always worth departing." - Louis de Bernieres in Corelli's Mandolin

Book update

I figured it's time to update you on what I've been reading. I went to a book club for the first time tonight and it was wonderful. I'm full of reading enthusiasm and excitement - give me more books. Om-num-num-num-num-num-num (say it like Cookie Monster)! So here's the most recent list:

May 2011:

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

This was a weird book. I'm kind of at a loss how to describe it or my reaction to it. The main Catch 22 in the book is sanity/insanity. From the book:

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."

I felt like a lot of the book left you guessing as to who was sane and who was insane and after trying fruitlessly to do this, wondering what it means to be "sane". However, it was interesting and got me thinking which is generally good. 3.5 stars.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I have very mixed feelings about this book, which makes me think I need to reread it. I liked it - mostly. I was not frustrated by it - mostly. I think Jane Eyre is not frustratingly annoying - mostly. I know many people who love love this book so I will definitely give it another chance. I did like it, but I feel like I will like it more the second time so I'm not going to give it any arbitrary rating right now.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This was a good mystery/suspense/romance novel. Based on just the front cover, which was red wavy marbling with only the title large in gold embossing, I would probably have put it right back on the shelf, but it was a fun, if not serious, read. 4 stars.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I liked Sense and Sensibility. I loved Pride and Prejudice and I read that first so I still love that more, even though I think that perhaps these are almost the same book, disguised in different trappings. It's still a good read and I can't help myself from sighing and wishing things turn out how I hope. 4.5 stars.

June 2011:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

This book is awesome, however, I used to think the movie was really great but after reading the book, the movie is disappointing in many ways. I highly recommend this book anyways! 5 stars.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I listened to the audio book (free download from librivox) and really liked this book. I think I listened to all 19-20 hours of it in just a few days. It kept me guessing and wondering and it is fun to read such an old book of this genre. 4.5 stars.

I'm working on Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres right now but I'm not making very fast progress on it. I'd like to continue, but the narration comes from several different perspectives, and I like one or two of them and dislike the rest. I'm going to try to make myself keep reading it, but I have just heard of so many other books that sound so interesting that I want to get to!

I Just Like Animals

Let me start by saying that I have recently discovered that we have (relatively) nearby us not one but two nonprofit big cat rescue centers: Carolina Tiger Rescue and The Conservators' Center.

Both organizations take in lions, tigers, binturongs, ocelots, kinkajous, servals, etc. that no one else wants or have been mistreated in other facilities or otherwise can't find a home. The Conservators' Center also has wolves, foxes, lemurs, chausies, and more variety of species.

I have really got an itching to go visit and tour one or both of these places. They both offer a few different tours: Regular, evening, etc. I have spent at least an hour on each of their websites, looking at the animals. I don't know why. I just like animals.

The Wood Man

And now, let's treat ourselves to a classic ghost story written by myself in about 1993 (3rd or 4th grade). Prepare to be spookified!

If you can't read that, or don't want to try to read that awkward, large, double lined elementary school print, I've typed it up below. I have to pat myself on the back for resisting the urge to add commentary throughout.

The Wood Man

There once was a man who lived in Northern Canada. His name was Mr. Smage. He lived in a cabin with his wife and children, Lisa and Marie.

Every day he would travel to the city and walk around with his mule and cart selling wood. People would buy his wood for a good price.

One day a man called to him from a shack on an empty lot. Her said he would buy enough wood to build a small house.

Mr. Smage took the offer. The man called out as he was leaving that Mr. Smage would have to bring it by himself. Usually he would hire a poor family to take the wood to the People who bought them.

"Why would a person who lived in a shack have enough money to buy such beautiful wood?" Mr. Smage wondered. But he went home and began cutting the pieces the man from the shack needed. After 3 days he loaded it all up in his cart and told his mule to go. He told Zerrell to go again. Zerrell was the name of the mule. He pulled and pulled but he couldn't pull such a heavy load. So Mr. Smage went to his barn to get another mule named Darrell. He hitched Darrell up to the cart. Darrell and Zarrell pulled the cart back to the man's shack.

He got the wood and went up to the door and knocked. He tried to knock. His hand went right through the door. When he was up that close he could see right through the broken down shack.

Some neighbors said they heard a yell and they say they heard wheels creaking down the road. Nobody ever saw the wood man again. The people who live there now say at night, they hear the creaking of old cart wheels passing the empty lot where the shack once stood. And they still tell stories of the Ghost and Mr. Smage.

The End!

Well, are you scared?! If you're anything like me, you are now scared - scared that you are going to pee your pants laughing or perhaps have your eyes get stuck facing the back of your head from excessive eye rolling. Darrell and Zarrell? Lisa and Marie (holla!)? The Ghost and Mr. Smage? Gee whiz... I can't tell whether I was "creative" or crazy!

Sewing Scrap Bag

I have been enjoying very much doing little sewing projects on my new sewing machine. This combination scrap bag/pincushion/tool holder should have been the first thing I made. Instead of having strings and clipped corner pieces everywhere, they could have all been neatly collected in this nice little removable bag.

I got the directions from a website called Sew, Mama, Sew!

Handy dandy hanging scrap bag. The bottom of the pincushion is weighted with rice so it can stay on the edge of a table, chair, etc.

And of course, I couldn't have done it without my "helper".